Better late than . . .

Hello gentle reader(s). We got into Auckland International Airport a little before 5 am on Sunday, and I still have some jet lag, having not slept any significant amount of time on the good ole big iron bird in the sky - but did watch most or all of four (possibly five) movies including one Japanese, one Chinese (with subtitles), Yes Man, and something else i may remember some day. How wonderful it was to see old friends, and it was not without a touch of sadness that we left. I think that was the happiest time I had had for a long time, for adjusting to NZ has not been all peaches and cream (though it is pretty tasty here at times). We had roast chicken to eat for dinner Sunday night. The house was so pristine thanks to the house sitter and her friend. The dog was retrieved sunday late afternoon from the kennel where we take her, and looked a little shaggier but was otherwise recognizable - there was a real bark symphony (maybe Beethoven wrote a symphony for assorted size and voice barkers - one seemed to have a hoarse voice from barking so much). There are tiny, medium and large dogs at the kennel - a pretty cool place - we like the people who own/run it. Back to the past - i really wasn't sure how it would feel to go back for a visit, but it felt right. Of course, I wish we would have had more time, but we feel we did ok with what we had. Contact with old friends certainly measured out in generous dosages the value of friendship and family. I did at times feel I was in a foreign country - possibly from the differences in appearance of USAers vs. Kiwis? And the stores have such a rich bounty of things compared to NZ, which seems rich to people from a lot of countries. There were so many cars in Los Angeles (do the angels cry about this?) that I almost couldn't count them. Same for some areas in San Francisco. Fortunately more were heading north when we were heading south from Sac to SF. I found I did miss walking, since I am not very good at working things in when there are such nice people to be with. There is new construction on a major road that is about two blocks from our house, started today, i believe, and will go on for a while. I will avoid it, taking long cuts if necessary since no short ones seem to be available. I did learn from this trip - one thing being that I need to get out more, be more in contact with others, socially and intellectually. And I needs to get me muscles stronger, a la Popye (sp?). Maybe I could take up an instrument - eg gong, bell, glass bottles, stems of grass, or humming? The options seem endless, and may end my existence if i annoy others too much. Hmmmmm. Better rethink that. I will go on reading, and will try and post a list at some point of ones I especially liked or found very interesting. Emily and mom, mostly, are getting ready for her birthday bash somewhere around May 3. She will be 40 (in 31 more years), and we hope she enjoys her youth before aging kicks in. I am reading a couple of interesting nonfiction books that talk about the brain, CNS and socialization aspects. I may get to tell some people about Fast ForWord, a remedial program i like. Well, my boots and tennis shoes are made for walking, so that's what I'm gonna do and one of these days they'll walk right back to you. Salud and love to all. Manford

An interesting week

This has been an interesting week. Carrie left last Sunday for Sacramento - she flew Auckland to San Francisco then got a ride with a friend of her mother to Sacramento. We have lost a very lovely man, Vince, Carrie's step dad - he passed away a few days before she got there. She has been, I am sure, a great help to her mom (or mum as they say here). The kids have been real troopers, with little fussing or complaining. As often happens, things did not go as I had expected, primarily blood test results came back and Emily was diagnosed as having whooping cough. So, she had to go on a regimen of an antiboitic, and was told to not go to school or any other activities for five days, to give the medicine time to do its work. I negotiated this down to four days with her school nurse. We suspect she had pertussis for some weeks prior to the blood test results date, but the rules are once it is diagnosed there is an isolation period. So she won't reinfect already infected ones? So she has been pretty much mome bound since this past Wednesday, missing a school swimming meet, chapel at school (this is a mandatory requirement one time a term - hope we are not all doomed to Hell for not going), drama lesson, tennis on Saturday, a picnic on Friday (it was called off because of rain), and a birthday party (she will party on dude with the little girl who invited her at some unkown date). Joseph has an amazing (to me, anyway) new computer game - Empire Total War - that is not in the Quaker tradition you would think, but prior to any wars it is pacific - it lets him create towns and settle other territories, I believe, and of course as with most of the new software has remarkable (again, to me) graphics. Of course it has also caused him to want a more advanced graphics card! He has a little more homework. Emily has some Mon - Thurs, and is liking the clarinet (no way as squeaky as a violin can be, at least in her capable hands - with encouragement from her mom, whose clarinet it is, and who played clarinet for many year). Well to change the subject, we watch the news from MSN, NY Times, other papers and internet sites, and hope none of our readers have been deeply stung - I am hoping that if we are patient enough we will get back, if not all, at least some of our mutual funds and other investments. So far New Zealand does not seem to be hurting quite as much, though house valaues have gone down considerably and the NZ dollar is the weakest it has been in a long time. There are still flowers of one or another kind blooming prettily but leaves are starting to turn on the relatively few decidious trees, and there is a little touch of fall in the air. We are looking forward to our April visit. Hope all of you are well and getting along ok. Remember the phrase in fake latin - Illigitimus non carborundam (I think I almost spelled it right - look it up in Wikipedia for a number of different versions). Sincerely, Manford

I'm back in the saddle again

Well, not really. But I am today feeling much more like the old me. It is a lovely day here, temp in the 60's this morning. I took Charlie for a walk, left her in the back yard, and walked some more to the local grocery store, and as a reward had a scoop of hokey pokey icecream. I have a few aches and pains, but my surgery went well and blessedly I don't have to go pee nearly as often. Let's see: I had laser surgery on my eye to close up a small retinal tear, then on my bladder to demolish a bladder stone (wonder how they did that ? I don't see any scars) so I guess next will be one or the other foot - maybe to wipe out a virulent foot fungus? Oh, well. Here is a family update: Charlie recently went to the vet for a sore on her nose - it seems to be clearing up, hooray. Emily has her first clarinet lesson at school today. She has lost/misplaced her uniform hat so we will probably need to buy another. Joseph has more homework by far than last year. Carrie is still not having to teach - classes start in March, but is very busy with research and with departmental matters. You have already heard enough about me. There are lots of peppers on our raised-bed pepper plants. We had some burly guys come and take out all the junk vegetation (privet hedges, grass, miscellaneous green things) so right now, today, our flower/plant beds look swell - I will really try to keep up with removing unwanted things from the beds from now on out. Rhubarb plants are very interesting - huge leaves, and you don't eat them, do you. Our strawberry plants have pretty much stopped making strawberries. Our tomato plants would, if we let them, take over the world, so it is snick, snick, snick to their unwanted branches. Marigolds have done well. Something is eating holes in the recently planted broccoli plants. Charlie is digging holes in the yard here and there. We will soon be putting down more bark in the beds. We are having pasta and homemade by Carrie tomato sauce and garlic bread tonight. Energy companies here are discouraging baths - one ad shows a bird on the edge of a plastic small pool, with the text "baths are for birds. Have a shower instead." Our nice big phillips lcd tv has been intermittently going blank though the sound remains on, so we have left it at a local repair shop for diagnosis and possible treatment. We had a sweet Valentines day, and hope you did, too. More later, hot potater.

When the examiner starts calling you "sir" you know

Welcome to my story page. Every year I have to take a driving test, with a driving instructor and an occupational therapist giving me their attention as I ferry them around in my car under varous conditions (country driving vs. city) for which I pay them a couple of hundred bucks. Well we started off on not so good a footing - after a short time I was asked to pull over and was told I needed to look in the rear view mirror more often, keep more to the center of the street or road and scan upcoming cross streets for possible intruders (well, something like that). I did those things better and did fine at speed (up to an exciting 60 miles an hour, or 100 kilometers per hour), then I was so happy that the test was almost over that I forgot some of the things I was supposed to do (like signal a left turn when going through a traffic circle and continuing on straight) and did not watch my speed so went a little fast in traffic and the instructor said something that included the term "sir" which I realized was a sign of displeasure. Sure enough my lack of defensive driver got commented on, but they are still letting me drive. Whew. I need to keep drivig to get Emily to and from her new school. Enough of that. Except as I watch other drivers I think they would get zapped more than me - as they cruise into the bicycle lane, fail to signal when they should, etc. Ah, well. For some reason I became rather brain dead, or developed writer's block, after our South Island trip, and life has not been a barrel of laughs - I had a bladder stone and could not get it taken out for no charge at the local hospital for at least six months, more or less, because they don't have enough docs and suites to meet the general populaces needs - so paid for having it done privately, in secret, far away from the prying eyes of the hospital. Apparently I did not recover consciousness in the recovery room, but in the post recovery room. And I was out from a cocktail of various drugs that worked quickly. I am much improved in the bladder department so I guess I will stop wearing diapers (just kidding). But enough about me. We are thrilled to think we will be seeing old friends during our upcoming April visit to the states. I will have more to say tomorrow. I want to post this before I erase it. Manford

We're back--and it's 2009!

I promised myself I would blog before I got lost in the heaps of e-mails I no doubt have waiting for me, after two weeks completely computer-free.

We just got home from our big trip to the South Island (known to the locals--not us--as the "mainland"). We spent the first week (Dec 28-Jan 4) at the Quaker Summer Gathering, at a boy scout camp outside of Christchurch. Not exactly luxury accommodations, but lots of interesting people around. About 110 people, lots of families, including the "Junior Young Friends" group of which Joseph is a member, who basically hang out and play cards and talk. We went to a park and beach one day, and into Christchurch on Joseph's birthday (15) to a museum and art gallery and food and ice cream. Before we left that day, Joseph got brave and went up the really tall climbing wall and abseiling down. Yes, I got pictures. He let me take a lot more pictures than usual of him this trip, so I will look at them and post some later...We were very lucky and had good weather almost all the time we were there--the only precipitation being a very dramatic and Kansas-like hailstorm.

We left the gathering early last Sunday morning to catch the TransAlpine express--a train across the mountains that are the center of the island. It was a nice ride--maybe not quite the spectacular mountains I was expecting, but I think I am spoiled by Colorado and the Sierra Nevada, and the biggest mountains are a bit farther south--Mount Cook--and were hidden by clouds most of the time we were there. We picked up a car when we got to the west coast, and spent the next week exploring the middle of the island, including perusing beach stones for jade (called greenstone here), going on an early morning boat ride to look for birds in the Okarito lagoon, a jetboat ride on a glacier-fed river (jetboats are a NZ invention and tourism boon, kind of the roller coaster of boating), a tour and detailed account of where and how they filmed the big battle scene at the end of Lord of the Rings (pictures to come), and, on the final day, a strong contender for favorite, seeing the penguins come home in Oamaru--both a few rare and solitary yellow-eyed penguins, and several rafts (that's what they're called, really) of gregarious little blue penguins, who clamoured up the rocks while their chicks wrestled and hopped about excitedly, awaiting their parents' return. Oh, yes, we did see little blue penguins also in captivity--injured ones, rescued and kept at the Antarctic Centre, where we also went in a room full of artificial snow to simulate an Antarctic storm. We had hoped to see Franz Josef Glacier, but it was very rainy that day, and we decided not to brave the walk over slippery stones. We thought we might see Fox Glacier the next day, but it was still rainy, and we opted to go on to Wanaka, which was inland, huge beautiful lakes. And that day, two Indian tourists were crushed by an ice fall at Fox Glacier. So maybe it's just as well we didn't go. We would probably not have disregarded the warning signs that are all over, especially in the rain, but according to the paper, 1/3 of tourists do ignore the signs and go try to touch the ice.

Now, home sweet home, still filled with Christmas debris. It seems like we've been gone forever. The garden looks like it, too. I picked a weird cucumber, gigantic squash, and possibly the ugliest carrot I've ever seen. Looks like the birds have found the strawberries, the rhubarb is trying to take over the world, and we will soon have a bushel of tomatoes. And one of dandelions.

Now I guess I'd better brave the e-mail and the laundry, before I go back to work tomorrow.

Happy 2009! Stay warm!
Carrie

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays, dear readers, and our best to you and yours. Current news - sung to the tune of "There's a hole in my bucket" - there's a stone in my bladder, my bladder, my bladder, there's a stone in my bladder that won't come out; and, there's a cyst in my left kidney, etc. that needs further study. Will have a CT scan this Wednesday for more in depth (har, har) analysis of the cyst, and will send an update when I have more info. We had a lovely time at Papamoa Beach this past week, and Carrie should have a picture or two to illustrate that visit. My nephew Ross and his wife Virginia and their son Andrew have been visiting since 15 December, and will share Christmas with us. We had planned to have Christmas dinner with a colleague of Carrie's but she had a horse riding accident where her horse fell and rolled over her, fracturing her pelvis, so she is out of action somewhat, though still getting up and around surprisingly well. We see on the web that it has been, and is being, a cold winter for many of you, so I will not dwell on our warm weather. Carrie, Joseph and Emily remain healthy and in good spirits; the kids are eagerly awaiting Christmas. If Santa lands on our metal roof it will cause a clatter, for sure, for sure. I had a good week of beach walking, shell gathering and book reading, and look forward to the new year, when I hope to become a volunteer somewhere in this town, and plan to go out of town more often to see the nearby sites, and hopefully improve my camera skills. We hope to come to the USA this next year. We wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New year (I just made that up - pretty good, huh). Keep those e-mails coming - I very much enjoy and appreciate them. Manford

If it's yellow

Hello. Time just gets away and two weeks are gone in a flash. We were pretty busy cleaning/tidying up the house to get ready for a Thanksgiving dinner we held on the 30th of November here - invited a coworker of Carrie's, her husband and their child, our next door neighbors, a friend of Joseph's and his mother and we four. Had a lovely meal - really hard to find turkeys here - and then they are only about as big as a roasting hen in the USA so Carrie bought and cooked two - one in an oven bag, one with no bag, and stuffed with stuffing. I made an apple tart, Carrie a grasshoper pie and did most of the other cooking, and her coworker brought potatoes, white and orange, and we got two boxes of yummy chocolates, and a good time was had by all until the coworker's daughter somehow managed to bang her head pretty hard on a yard swinging chair - my what a yowl!!! But, fortunately she was not badly hurt, and did calm down somewhat. Next up is the annual tree trimming party, on December 14. My computer is getting a low battery warning, so more in a while. Well here I am a few days later, and perhaps you are wondering about the blog title. Well, one of the beach houses we rented in the past had a sign in the toilet room: If it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown,flush it down. I would add: if it's red, you have bled. Which is what I did one day. Apparently that is a common finding when people are taking the local equivalent of Cumadin, but the doctor I consulted about it (my doctor was full up and could not see me) took me off the Cumadin, and I was to see a urologist before going back on it. Well, this consult took place on 27 November and after waiting and trying various approaches to getting an appointment at the local hospital my doctor has referred me to a private pay urologist, whom I will see on this Thursday, two days from today. I am feeling fine, so hopefully he will give me clearance to get back to figuring out the best doseage. I hope so, soonk, for I am off with my nephew and his wife and son to the beach for a few days before Carrie and Joseph and Emily show up - or maybe Joseph or Joseph and a friend will come up with me. It rained heavily last night and this am, good thing, the plants were getting a little parched. Our bathroom make over is almost done. It looks flash as they say here - or sweet - whatever. Emily has a new friend with whom she is spending lots of time. Joseph has a school project presentation this Wednesday evening, while I take Emily to a farewell bar-b-cue Carrie will go with Joseph. He is going to be in the advanced class next year. Hope you are not freezing, and wishing you all a happy, prosperous, healthy holiday season and new year I remain yours truly, Manford